Land Ownership in the Kootenay Lake Forest District
From a forest management perspective, the basic classes of land are as follows:
Under the West Kootenay-Boundary Land Use Plan in 1995, the amount of park land in the Kootenay Lake Forest District more than doubled, from 101,000 hectares to 230,000 hectares. New parks included the Goat Range, West Arm, Kianuko, Lockhart, and a significant expansion of the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy.
Also known as "fee-simple", private land is owned by individuals or companies. The B.C. Forest Service has little authority over forest management on private land. Pluto Darkwoods Ltd. and Crestbrook Forest Industries Ltd. own large "taxation tree farms" in landscape unit K4.
These areas contain relatively few (if any) trees. They include rock, alpine, icefields, brushfields, meadows, avalanche tracks, etc. Some of these areas are visible on the satellite image.
A large portion of the Crown forested land in the Kootenay Lake Forest District is not considered available for harvest due to poor timber values, high cost of extraction, or environmental hazards. These forests do contribute to requirements for landscape-level biodiversity, however.
The "timber harvesting landbase" is determined through the Timber Supply Review process. It changes over time, depending on forest growth, market cycles, available technology, and improved field information. The approximate size and location of this land can be seen by viewing the "operability" map in addition to this ownership map.
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